Consultants working in Emergency Departments in Irish hospitals have said that recent media reports highlighting inadequate facilities for child patients are accurate.

It follows an audit, which found that the majority of Accident and Emergency departments do not have separate treatment areas for children and adults.

It means that young children often witness distressing sights, and are exposed to anti-social behaviour and injuries that involve drug and alcohol abuse.

The Irish Association for Emergency Medicine is calling on the HSE to invest in emergency departments so that children's facilities can be upgraded.

Mark Doyle from Waterford Regional Hospital is President of the IAEM, and he said: "I think parents should really engage with staff about this and parents would really have good idea as to whether there are activities going on that might be distressing to their child.

"If they perceive that is the case, I would suggest that they bring that to the attention of the staff, particularly the triage nurse, and ask that the situation be dealt with as far as possible."